Manufacturing of three-dimensionally formed foods having an uneven surface has been performed by a press method or by putting a decoration on a surface of a food once formed into a plate. These methods, however, have low productivity and are not suitable for continuous mass production.
On the other hand, a method using a drum type forming machine has been known as a method of permitting continuous mass production. In this method, formed foods extruded out of the molds, i.e., the forming blocks are separated from the forming machine by means of extendedly disposed piano wires and cut belts. Consequently, every separated food results in the form of a plate due to a piano wire, even if the forming block is formed to give an uneven surface. It is therefore impossible to manufacture three-dimensionally formed foods having an uneven surface with the use of such a drum type forming machine.
Nowadays, there is a great demand for foods in a wide variety of forms, attributable to the diversification of the needs from consumers; therefore, a technology is much expected to be developed which allows continuous mass production of three-dimensionally formed foods to be realizable in various forms with stable quality.